Snails...3 varieties I.D. please
O.K., right about now I'm thinking of making a batch of snail stew. There are 3 types of snails munching on the roots of my chids. There are tiny blackish coiled ones, tiny to teenie tiny ones with cone shaped shells, and a larger puffy coiled variety. The cone shaped variety have been causing the most grief. They're hard to spot because they're so small and they blend right in with the roots.
I'm not looking for a cure all. I've tried beer and they wouldn't drink it, and snail baits that they wouldn't touch. My best line of defense seems to be the "catch and kill" approach using sliced potatoes as bait. I'm also giving them doses of coffee. I smashed close to 300 of them over the last 3 days. Last night I treated my most infested plants with coffee and potatoes. The coffee treatment must have really helped because this morning there were no snails munching the potatoes of the plants treated with coffee.
Anyway, here are photos of what I'm dealing with. Can anyone identify them?
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